The Bay 2012

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The movie might have a point (hey, Environmental Protection Agency, do something!), but it has no dramatic structure or sense of suspense. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: There is a lot of nasty stuff to look at, but very little that is genuinely haunting, jolting or terrifying. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: The impact of Barry Levinson's eco-apocalyptic nail-biter is undeniable, especially when you realize some of it is based on fact. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: For Halloween-week fare you could do a lot worse, but "The Bay" fades quickly - like blood in the water. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: As a smart, scary time-passing horror film designed to have you Googling the scientific information it's built on, satisfying your curiosity while roiling your guts with terror, The Bay has the will to thrill and the skill to scare. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Maybe it takes an old pro like Levinson to show how an increasingly played-out genre can be improved. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Levinson knows his way around a story, and "The Bay" benefits greatly from that, coming together as something more than a high-tech parlor trick. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Sometimes Levinson goes with a less-is-more approach, sometimes he pours on the buckets of blood, but he definitely is digging the creepiness. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: One hell of a creepy little eco-horror pic. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: Familiar faces and digital tricks are few and far between, making it easy to get caught up in the small-town cover-up at hand... Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: Barry Levinson gives folks another reason to stay out of the water in this queasy biological catastrophe thriller. Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: The story becomes more ridiculous as it escalates, the film's over-determined ecological focus undermining any real horror movie tension. Read more

Jeannette Catsoulis, NPR: A straightforward whatdunnit and a passionate slap in the face for a spineless EPA. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: [Levinson] demonstrates he can make a shakycam found-footage horror movie every bit as fake-looking, clumsy and unscary as your average college student working on a $200 budget. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Although there are some scary moments here, and a lot of gruesome ones, this isn't a horror film so much as a faux eco-documentary. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: It's schlock with honor, schlock with a conscience, schlock that speaks to the way we live now. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Like a "Blair Witch Project" for thinking adults, one that's scary in two distinct ways. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "The Bay" is better than a shallow exercise, but crabby horror fans may have preferred that Levinson took a real plunge. Read more

Nigel Floyd, Time Out: More coherent and thought-provoking than most 'found-footage' horror movies, this should appeal to genre fans and eco-activists alike. Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: The Bay, a real creepfest, joins the suggestive company of eco-terror entries like Hitchcock's The Birds and 1979's Prophecy ... Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: A gruesome but uninspired environmental-disaster thriller that's an unconvincing example of the overexposed faux-found-footage horror subgenre. Read more

Karina Longworth, Village Voice: You have to distance yourself from the spot-on simulation of kitsch in order admire it, and that process precludes engagement with it as drama. Read more

Sean O'Connell, Washington Post: A ripped-from-the-headlines psychological chiller that burrows under the skin with its terrifyingly local twist. Read more